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Monday, November 30, 2009

When I was a child, I lived in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC for several years. My family lived in a rowhouse near a deli called Booeymonger, and given the urban nature of Georgetown we walked everywhere. Even as a child, I remember noticing the different characters of the homes and how many of the doors were used as individual expressions of personal taste.

One of my favorite doors in the neighborhood was painted green, and I used to look for it every time we went out. Image of Georgetown via About.com, photo credit Rachel Cooper.

Since then, I have always had a fondness for green doors. In Atlanta, many doors and shutters are painted in 'Buckhead green', which is a dark, dark green that reads as black. This is not the green that catches my eye; I like the lighter shades that are more unusual on a door. I was reminded about my love for green doors recently when I 'rediscovered' this home while posting about the origin of the name of my blog, and since then I have driven by it several times. The green door and shutters are still there, but the front of the home is distinctly weathered now.

I snapped this picture of a green door in London when I was there a few years ago. On that trip, I walked all over the city, so I am not sure where it is located.

I found this incredible image of a lime green door on Living the Sweet Life. I love double doors - they seem so gracious, like you would throw both of them open and welcome guests into your home.

I 'discovered' this little gem of a home while walking my dog this year. It is right in the middle of Buckhead, yet tucked away on a tiny street; I even had a Buckhead realtor email me and ask where it was located, as she had never seen it. There are so many things I love about this home and the landscape; it looks perfectly at ease in its surroundings. My favorite feature is the green door with the charming criss-cross design on the transom above the door.

This home, which was featured on the cover of Veranda and is on the market in Atlanta (I posted about it here), looks like it has a sagey green door, but it could be taupe. I will investigate this week, although the front door is difficult to see as the home is on a hill and the landscaping conceals it.

This is a one of my all time favorite houses, and it is not even the front of the house, it is the back! I wonder what the front looks like. The architect was A. Hays Town of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The door has a distinct green tone to it. Image via Provencal Interiors. (Have any of my readers ever seen this house in person? If so, please email me!)

I love this magnificent green door in Paris - the real door is human scale, and the huge doors are the grand scale. Image via the Porch & Atelier.

Architecture Tourist alerted me about this beautiful Neel Reid designed home (1885-1926) last year, and I have never forgotten it. The light lime sherbet color of the door and shutters is unusual in an Atlanta home, and yet it is part of what adds to the charm of this home. I have been reading a lot about Neel Reid recently; he was one of Georgia's premiere architects in the early part of the 20th century, and owning a Neel Reid house was considered to be 'a mark of taste and social acceptability'. He died young, at age 41, and yet he had such a dramatic impact on the landscape of Atlanta.

These were the only green door images I could find. If you have any good ones, I would love to see them!

I searched everywhere for just the right green for our front door. I had heard it called Charleston green, which is almost black. After going through paint chip after paint chip I found Midnight Green. I'm not sure, but it may be Ralph Lauren, can't remember. I bought it at The Home Depot. Our front door was left builders white, a couple of years, until I could find just the right green.

I love this post. I, too, love green doors. I think my favorite shade of green for a door is a traditional "English" or "Irish" green-- a hint of a home that is filled with life. Thanks so much for the great images.

I do share your love of green doors. There is also a shade of french blue that I love on an entry door. A good friend recently came back from Italy where he took the most gorgeous photograph of a weathered green door. I admired it and lo and behold, it arrived in my mailbox last week. It's sitting in my kitchen now. I gaze at it in the morning as I am slicing my grapefruit, and dream.

Red and green doors are my two favorites. When we built our home I had every intention of having our front door painted green, but our two next-door-neighbors already had the same idea. I went with black instead.

I also used to live in Georgetown and really loved it especially in the spring. I used to take my son and dogs to Dumbarton Oaks, such a beautiful park very near our house.Love the post.... would not know which one to choose to live in....maybe the Prieure d'Orsan as it reminds me of my childhood in France

Great post! Beautiful homes! I have a thing for doors, too. My house has had green doors for over twenty years. Every time we repaint, I think I'll change to white, but I seem to always stay with green.

Green is a tricky color and one that is hard to select from paint samples. I have had people knock on my door and ask for the color name/paint brand. I'd do (have done) the same, rather than guessing and remixing ten times trying to get the color right.

Thank you for the comments, everyone! One of the comments reminded me of a friend who was renovating a home in Atlanta, and she knocked on the door of a home in Brookhaven to find out what shade of green they had used so she could replicate it on her own house. Since then, the original house has painted their door and shutters taupe, and my friend has sold her house and moved. But, the shutters on the house she remodeled are still green!

Though I love your examples of green doors, I'm a blue door person myself, especially against crisp white; think Greek isles and Ireland, for example. Blue doors are remnants of an ancient belief that it warded off evil and are common throughout Europe. Often a turquoise blue was used and in strong light this can fade to a green -- perhaps a genesis for green doors??? I wonder out of curiosity if there are any old or archaic associations with green doors in tradition or myth? What was the origin of the southern green/black door that used to be so prevalent? Just a fashion that was widely copied? Interesting to speculate . . .

If I hadn't painted my house a dark grey-green (with a brick-red door) I would definitely have painted my door green - love it!! And the images you've shared are fantastic. My favourite door would have to be the french "grand" door - interesting how it had bent and weathered over the years (and years and years!). Tres magnifigue!Victoria @ DesignTies

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